This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every persons position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the FAQ and RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate and remove the ads - it's free!

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by Kandahar

Sure, but there are some people who binge drink all throughout college and into their 20s, and never become addicted. Others are hooked after drinking just a few times. So it's a disease in the sense that it affects some people more than others. Yes, it's a behavior, but it's a compulsion caused - at least in part - by one's genes.

I have the gene. At some point we all make a choice on which path to take. I could have easily gone down the gutter in my youth. I recognized that and made my choices.

We all make choices on every moment of life. Yes, some people have to work harder to stay afloat but it is a disservice to the addict to call it a disease, because that removes the lion's share of the responsibility from the person choosing to imbibe.

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by chevydriver1123

So those of us who follow baseball have seen Detroit Tiger's First Basemen Miguel Cabrera's latest drinking **** up. Whenever the subject is brought up in the media, they always refer to it as a disease. I don't buy into the disease theory, in my opinion it's a behavior because you can stop being an alcoholic without medication by just simply putting down the bottle. I believe the disease theory is just to rationalize and cover the social stigma that is associated with being addicted to the sauce.

It is an addiction and a disease. If you think you can just stop, you've never been addicted to anything. There are actual physical symptoms that happen when a person stops drinking. There is also evidence that some people have a genetic predisposition for addiction. However, all that being said, I've seen people get their act together a lot quicker than many celebrities do. I don't know why that is.

~Fighting for peace is like screwing for virginity.
~I have as much authority as the Pope, I just don't have as many people who believe it.
~If all the world is a stage, where is the audience sitting?
George Carlin

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Alcoholism and drug abuse... these begin as behaviors, and for some people end up being addictions. Each of us has a choice in the beginning... to drink or not drink, to take drugs or not take drugs. Not everyone who indulges in these things becomes an addict, however. For some people... people with what has been called addictive personalities... the behavior leads to a compulsion, and a physical need so intense that the body reacts violently when deprived. These people are addicts, addicts with a disease. Science believes that the addictive personality is genetic. Not everyone with the genetic propensity toward addiction will actually become addicts, but addiction seems to runs very heavily in some families.

Addicts cannot just put down their liquor or their drugs and walk away. Their bodies will attack them if they do that. People can die during cold turkey withdrawals, so it's extremely rare for a true addict/alcoholic to be able to free themselves on their own. Nearly all will need professional help.

My mother was an alcoholic. She had been since I was a young child watching her fill up her coffee mug with vodka every morning. She drank her entire life, drank until her grown children kept her grandchildren away so they would not see grandma slurring her words and bumping into furniture, nor smell the stench of her breath. Also, she was not a nice person. She lived a very long life, never admitted she had a drinking problem, never made the slightest attempt to quit, and died drunk.

If someone in your family has an addiction, there is nothing anyone can do to help them until they are ready and willing to help themselves. That usually does not occur until they hit rock bottom. When your addicted family member finally asks for help, please give it to them immediately, and support them through the grueling process that lies ahead. They can be saved as soon as they want to be saved.

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by Cephus

No, it's not going to be easy, but it certainly is possible with the right treatment and especially with the right mindset of the addict. Far too many addicts, however, use the excuse that it's a disease to continue being addicted. If you don't want to be a non-addict, you're not going to be.

Or once you face the fact that it is a disease, you can stop beating yourself up about it. It's a disease that can be fought and won. One day at a time. All you need to do is not pick up a drink for that one day.
I'm an alcoholic who has been sober for 1 yr. 8 mo. and 24 days.
I'll never be able to just have a few beers, because it is a disease. I would eventually end up getting drunk all the time again. If I didn't think I was an alcoholic or that I was cured of the disease, I would probably go buy a twelve pack right now.
I envy those who are not alcoholic's and can drink once in a while. Some of us just can't.

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by Barbbtx

I envy those who are not alcoholic's and can drink once in a while. Some of us just can't.

The reason I've never become addicted to anything is that I literally can't. The reward centers of my brain don't function normally, so nothing I do feels good enough that I could risk becoming addicted to it; aside from the effects of physical dependency, quitting anything is a simple matter of not wanting to do it anymore. On the other hand, I'm also quite incapable of feeling the kind of bliss that leads to addiction in the first place. I like the taste of some alcoholic drinks, but having more than a few just gives me a headache and an upset stomach. I even tried cocaine a few times, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything like the powerful euphoria that other people have described. I stopped when it became inconvenient to keep going.

I suppose it's good that I can't get trapped into that kind of self-destructive lifestyle, but at the same time I'd give nearly anything to experience pleasure on the level that normal people appear to.

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by Viktyr Korimir

The reason I've never become addicted to anything is that I literally can't. The reward centers of my brain don't function normally, so nothing I do feels good enough that I could risk becoming addicted to it; aside from the effects of physical dependency, quitting anything is a simple matter of not wanting to do it anymore. On the other hand, I'm also quite incapable of feeling the kind of bliss that leads to addiction in the first place. I like the taste of some alcoholic drinks, but having more than a few just gives me a headache and an upset stomach. I even tried cocaine a few times, and I enjoyed it, but it wasn't anything like the powerful euphoria that other people have described. I stopped when it became inconvenient to keep going.

I suppose it's good that I can't get trapped into that kind of self-destructive lifestyle, but at the same time I'd give nearly anything to experience pleasure on the level that normal people appear to.

I smoked marijuana for years and daily. Finally, I got to the point I no longer enjoyed it and just stopped. I've used other drugs that I did very much enjoy, but thank God I never got addicted for some reason. Being an alcoholic, I am also around drug addicts trying to stay clean. They seem to have a harder time, at least in my opinion.

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by Ed Gein

I have the gene. At some point we all make a choice on which path to take. I could have easily gone down the gutter in my youth. I recognized that and made my choices.

We all make choices on every moment of life. Yes, some people have to work harder to stay afloat but it is a disservice to the addict to call it a disease, because that removes the lion's share of the responsibility from the person choosing to imbibe.

It does not absolve anyone of responsibility. It does, however, give them the tools to take responsibility effectively.

You can never be safe from a government that can keep you completely safe from each other and the world. You must choose.

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by Barbbtx

I smoked marijuana for years and daily. Finally, I got to the point I no longer enjoyed it and just stopped. I've used other drugs that I did very much enjoy, but thank God I never got addicted for some reason. Being an alcoholic, I am also around drug addicts trying to stay clean. They seem to have a harder time, at least in my opinion.

People who drink socially are more tolerant of people choosing not to drink. Whether this is a matter of cultural values or drug abusers feeling the need to affirm their own decisions is a matter for more educated minds than my own.

Re: Alcoholism: Disease or Behavior

Originally Posted by Aunt Spiker

I have to ask 'which ones?'

Anyone who makes the claim that alcoholism is just a behavior. It speaks to that person's lack of knowledge about the mechanisms of alcoholism and the difference between a state and a behavior. For example, one can be an alcoholic and not drink.

This is what I hate about politics the most, it turns people in snobbish egotistical self righteous dicks who allow their political beliefs, partisan attitudes, and 'us vs. them' mentality, to force them to deny reality.

Originally Posted by Navy Pride

You can't paint everone with the same brush.......It does not work tht way.

Originally Posted by Wessexman

See with you around Captain we don't even have to make arguments, as you already know everything .

Originally Posted by CriticalThought

Had you been born elsewhere or at a different time you may very well have chosen a different belief system.

Originally Posted by ernst barkmann

It a person has faith they dont need to convince another of it, and when a non believer is not interested in listening to the word of the lord, " you shake the dust from your sandels and move on"